Monday, December 31, 2012

We had a winter's Solstice party and this is Rhea's snowflake. I really like it very much. Julie brought origami paper and it was the best for this activity. I didn't remember how to fold snowflakes - thank goodness for the internet, where I found a tutorial. What fun. Make some of these. You'll like it.

Today is the 150th day since I started another 365 Mail Art project. I'm thinking of starting a 3rd tomorrow along with a new group at Andy's Mail Art 365. I'm still not sure about this but am leaning towards doing it - that means 2 cards a day, and 2 record keeping booklets. Yes, I keep a record of cards made and to whom I've sent them; except, when I forget like with #100! dang.

Our friend Greig Leach, a fabulous artist, has been making 12 Days of Christmas cards for the past 10 years. We are lucky recipients of them. Eventually, I'll make an accordian book with them so I can display them together. They are wonderful. Aren't we lucky to be on their Christmas mailing list?

These are praline cookies. They were crispier than I thought they'd be, but yum good. I'll be posting the recipe on my recipe blog later today.

I'm back to knitting. I sold several pairs of mitts at a small craft market this season. I only put one pair in my Etsy shop, but am busy making more of them. This is a wool yarn from Michigan, USA. Christmas Red is the color name. Soft and warm. I made 3 pairs in this color cause I liked it so much. I've bought some new yarn from my fave shop, The Yarn Lounge.

We spent Christmas day with our niece and nephew, watching Young Frankenstein and eating. Our nephew made us his famously delicious deviled eggs, tinted for the season. Here he is displaying them on one of his many deviled egg dishes. He has quite a collection of them.

We had a gift exchange at our book club last night. My son got MY name. How fun is that!? He gave me such a cool gift.
This little put together Dalek character, for instance, shown here with peanut for scale.
Dalek tries to obliterate a peanut!

But here is the main gift - a salt and pepper shaker set. The Tardis is the salt and the Dalek is the pepper. How cute is this? Okay, come out and tell me if you are a Dr. Who fan.

Sunday, December 30, 2012

I'd been saving this wonderful tea pouring hostess for a good background and found it in one of my husband's assemblage cards. He's made lots of cards of his images and the first batch wasn't to his liking so he was going to discard them. HAH! No, please "donate" them to me, I'll alter them! I think this one worked out perfectly. Oh can I stand it!? When something turns out so good, I just love it!

Last week, I began a series of minimal, 3 bits only, cards.

#145

#146

I added quotes to them -

#145 "To see the world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour." William Blake

"Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice." Baruch Spinoza

#147

149

##148

"You cannot make yourself feel something you do not feel, but you can make yourself do right in spite of your feelings." Pearl Buck

#144

"If you want peace, work for Justice."
Henry Louis Mencken

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
Martin Luther King

"You may say that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope some day you'll join us, and the world will live as one." John Lennon

#143

This vintage vehicle is parked on a side street off of Monument avenue and every Christmas it's embellished with lights, objects, and inside Santa! A wild sight to behold and we appreciate it's fun presence.

"Can I see another's woe and not be in sorrow, too? Can I see another's grief, and not seek for kind relief?"
William Blake

What to do as the new year approaches? I'll surprise myself, no doubt. What about you? What will you make?

Monday, December 24, 2012

This is the basket in honor of Emilie. When I stopped by Dixie Donuts on Saturday, all but one had been chosen. Today, I'll drop off another 11 packets.

This is my final Mail Art card for the week, which I finished yesterday.
The quotation for this card:"Our awesome responsibility to ourselves, to
our children, and to the future is to create ourselves in the image of
goodness, because the future depends on the nobility of our imaginings."Barbara Grizzuti Harrison

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate this holiday. And to all, happiness and PEACE.

Friday, December 21, 2012

Here's the newest bird in my home. It's made from drift wood and was given to me by a friend. It's perfect with the piece of drift wood that I collected on the Outer Banks last month.

I made these pecan flour-y, powdered sugar-y cookies yesterday. They turned out really good. I used a recipe that was in an old Cook's Illustrated magazine. Melt in mouth good!

My daily Mail Art this week had to do with the sad feelings that I couldn't seem to dispel. The shooting rampage in Connecticut with the loss of so many young children and the death of 10 little girls by a land mine in Afghanistan just filled me with such sadness.
The quote on this one:"Hugs can do great amounts of good, especially for children." Princess Diana, Princess of Wales.

The quote for this one: "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." Martin Luther King Jr

"I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures." Lao Tzu

This card's quote: "You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late." – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Our task must be to free ourselves... by
widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and
the whole of nature and it's beauty.” ― Albert Einstein

After reading about a mission that Patience Salagado thought of (read about it here) - I made some little blank books out of old topographic maps, bought some crayons, and made coloring kits in honor of Emilie Parker, one of the children who was murdered in Connecticut. It was said that she loved to draw.

I placed the basket at Dixie Donuts, because I
think there'll be lots of children stopping by the shop. I'll be making 10 more books to put in the basket in a few days.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Last post I said that this week called for a change up - I needed color! So here's my color series for this week - as of Thursday (today.)

I'm pleased with how these are turning out. My inspiration is the torn billboard collages of Villegle. (note: can't get my accented Latin to work - there's supposed to be an accent over the last "e" in the name.)

I'm finding some good quotes to attach to these when I post them on Facebook.

This is the least strong of the group in my opinion. Wonder what I'll do for Friday's card.

Here are my newest birds. I got these from a shop in Duck, N.C. called Solitary Swan. Old spools for the bases and new metal birds printed with vintage looking patterns on them. They are sweet on my studio window. To the left of them is a bobble head ceramic piece that I got in L.A. a number of years ago, and behind that is a small Snoopy figure.

Look at these cool copper postcards. They were sent to me with a nice note, by a former classmate from my Spanish class. How cool that she thought I'd like them - and I do! Have you ever seen copper postcards?

This is a lovely quote from Mother Theresa. It's one of my favorites. The image looks like something that Keri Smith might do. Does anyone know who did this particular version of the quote? Among other things, it makes me think about Mail Art. Small things done with great love.

This is an image from Jockey's Ridge on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The day was over cast. These two shrubs just showed above the line of the low dune. when I looked at this image, I felt that it was sad, though in person it was very lively with the sound of the wind through the dunes. Are you getting any kind of emotional sense from this image?

Monday, December 10, 2012

These are the 2 cards that I made over the weekend. I think I'm going to take a break from the craft background. It's a very gray day today and I think I need some COLOR!

This is Humphrey Bogart, in case you don't recognize him. I wrote a quote on this about keeping your eyes open or you'll miss things. It's a quote from Dr. Seuss. What a guy, Seuss!

Here's my honey holding up the "A" that I gave him for his project. I give him grades on projects, he wants that. I always give him an "A" cause he always does "A" work. Trust me, this man does "A" work! This particular "A" is very special. It was created by Leah Palmer Priess. You can see her work here. She is an amazing illustrator. I saw her work on A Word A Day again recently and remembered how much I like her work. I was able to purchase the "A" in her Etsy shop, here.

My honey was very pleased about his grade.

We got a packet of presents from our friends BeeBee (aka anonymous) and her honey Tom. They were nicely wrapped then tied with ribbons. Who can let a good ribbon go to waste? Not me!

I tied the ribbons on our candle holders and bird in the kitchen. They look so festive! Actually, the ribbon gives the bird a lot of personality, don't you think?

Yesterday, I had a taste for lasagne. I had all the ingredients for this one. I made up the recipe from a couple of more complicated ones. I wanted simple and fast. I put the recipe on my recipe blog, here.
It turned out deliciously good. Try it and let me know how you like it.

Friday, December 07, 2012

Our miniature Maple tree has lost it's leaves but they haven't gone far. We found them in piles and gathered them up. They are so lovely even when curled up and dry. So organic!

This is the last of the color series for now.

After that, I decided to alter 3 cards that had the same image. A boring lake scene.

I think it's interesting how a single added piece makes a difference.

I used quotes about nature, for these cards.

For this next group, I used only 3 (or 4) pieces. MInimal. A person, a shape in black, a moth/butterfly. So much can be said with so little, right?

Do you know who this woman is?

Do you know who this man is?

For two days this week, we couldn't park on our street. It was quite nice, actually, but then we have parking spaces behind our house. Then the work began and oh was it LOUD!! First a huge machine dug up the old street, LOUDLY. Then another machine textured the next layer. Then another machine laid down tar. Oh the noise and odor! However, we have a slick new black surfaced street. All that's left is for the stripe making machine to put a yellow stripe down the middle. It will be a quieter experience.